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Chuck Firestone, Member of McGregor Baptist Church, Fort Myers FL The village of San Damian is located about six hours northeast of Lima. On our mission trip in April 2008, we visited San Damian and two other nearby villages, located in the Andes mountains at an elevation of 10,000 to 11,500 feet. We know the Holy Spirit has gone ahead of us and has been preparing their hearts to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. We will go three times a year: April, July, and October, for at least the next three years. On our "Vision Trip" last year, three physical needs were identified by the village nurse. These are, pure drinking water, improved nutrition, and improved kitchen environments. We are working with ECHO to address these needs, and using the REAP concept of indigenous church planting. We give them very little other than the word of God - through storytelling. The people are very open to receiving God's word. Throughout their history, storytelling has been a part of their culture, so each evening we have a time of storytelling. We pray that through this storytelling, more people will receive Christ and more churches will be built. Each day, we immersed San Damian in prayer. This is done by prayer-walking around this village of about 700. We talk with everyone we meet, asking for their prayer needs. We demonstrated an ECHO water filter, using just 2 five-gallon buckets, some PVC pipe, rocks, pea gravel, and sand. The nurse said that she has been dreaming of this for years. The average family consists of a mother, father, five children, and one set of grandparents. Their entire physical needs are met by farming 1-2 acres of poor ground. We took soil testing kits and analyzed soil from various plots of ground. With this information and the help of ECHO, we'll be able to provide them with information about how to improve their soil, as well as suggestions about other crops that would produce better yields in their soil. All cooking is done on wood fires. The only wood available in this region is from Eucalyptus trees. This wood has a very high oil content and leaves a large amount of sticky carbon on kitchen walls, creating what is known as "Black Kitchens." ECHO may be able to alleviate this problem by introducing more efficient cooking methods. During our mission trip in September of 2007, we heard the testimony of a woman in the village of Cullpe who had received the Lord twenty-four years earlier. She has since led most of the people in Cullpe to the Lord. Alcoholism is a huge problem in most of the surrounding villages, but not in Cullpe! Believers there have been meeting in homes for several years. In 2007, they converted one of their buildings into their first church building. Please pray for the people of Peru and for our upcoming trip in July, 2008, as we return to this area and give God the glory for the work He is doing in this part of the world.
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